Capitol Letters: The Sitzmann Scoop Week 11

The week in a recap: 

This entire week was spent on the floor of the House of Representatives voting on  numerous bills.  We passed 47 bills out of the house this week!  Every morning after gaveling in, we as a Republican party went to caucus to discuss the bills being voted on that day and then went to the floor to vote!

Monday:

Monday morning I drove to Des Moines.

We gaveled in at 1pm and the Republican Party Immediately Caucused. After Caucus we went to the house floor and voted on (AND PASSED) the following bills:

• HF 395 Commercial Driver’s Licenses - Busses 
• HF 706 Open Meetings & Records 
• HF 885 Deer Tags Disabled Veterans  
• HF 901 Law Enforcement Lateral Transfer 
• HF 807 Perinatal Hospice Services 
• HF 887 Health Facility Licensing - Birth Centers & Certificates of Need 
• HF  871 Disposing of Fire Arms 
• HF 945 Stand Your Ground Fix
  
  

Tuesday:

Tuesday morning there were multiple committee meetings.  All Republican House members caucused before debate around noon. After Caucus we went to the house floor and voted on (AND PASSED) the following bills:

• HF 933 Pediatric Hospice Programs 
• HF 872 Qualifications for Targeted Small Businesses  
• HF 766 Permissible Window Tint on Motor Vehicles 
• HF 904 Vehicle Accident Reports 
• HF 844 Eligibility Requirements for Financial Institutions for Deposit of Public Funds
• HF 471 Concussion Providers / Concussion Brain Injury Sports 
• HF 918 Financial Liability - Vehicles / Driving Without Insurance 
• HF 919 Child Serve Children’s Specialty Hospital 
• HF 926 Human Trafficking Victim - Expungement of Records 
• HF 924 Firearms Age / Carry Firearms Minimum Age 
• HF 928 Election Recounts 
• HF 954 Elections / Election Conduct 

Wednesday

Wednesday morning all Republican House members caucused before debate. After Caucus we went to the house floor and voted on (AND PASSED) the following bills:

•       HF 969 411Cancer Coverage & Screening for First Responders / Retirement Systems 
•       HF 827 /SF 22 Electric Device and Driving 
•       HF 903Farm to Market Roads Payment 
•       HF 953Foster Care – Child/ Juvenile Legal Representation 
•       HF 862County Attorney - Conflicts of Interest 
•       HF 825 Exemption for Hazard Statement / Groundwater Hazard Statement 
•       HF Medical Right of Conscience / Medical Ethics Defense Act 
•       HF 946Enforcement Immigration Law 
•       HF 937 Officer Certifications /Iowa Law Enforcement Academy Council – Suspension or Revocation of Law Enforcement License
•       HF 785 Charter School Requirements / Charter School Governance and Concurrent Enrollment  
•       HF 884 Authorization of Chaplains in Iowa School 
•       HF 792Fentanyl Related Deaths 
•       HF 826Obscene Materials Minors 
•       HF 940Notice of Beneficiaries / Probate – Beneficiary Notice 
•       HF 925 /SF 106 Conveyance of Firearms (ATV)
•      HF 943 Eminent Domain & Hazardous Liquid Pipelines 
•      HF 639 Pipeline Permit Insurance
•       HF 970 Governors Healthcare Bill / Nutrition Assistance Program 
•       HF 948/SF615 Health and Wellness Plan/ Medicaid Expansion Work Requirements 
•       HF 970Nutrition Assistance Program / SNAP Healthy Foods, Double Up Food Bucks
  Wednesday night we were in debate until 8pm
  
  

Thursday

Thursday morning there were multiple committee meetings.   All Republican House members caucused before debate. After Caucus we went to the house floor and voted on (AND PASSED)the following bills:

• HF 645 Sports and Exposition Venue Nuisance Immunity 
• HF 899 Online Unsolicited Images /Explicit Electronic Transmissions
• HF 907 Renewal Fleet License Plates / Registration of Fleet Vehicles 
• HF 932 Joint Physical Custody
• HF 949 County Auditor Duties Cleanup 
• HF 177 Assaults Certain Occupations 
• HF 956 Judicial Branch Administration 
• HF 767 Iowa Private Sector Employee Drug Testing Update 

We got done with debate around 5:30PM; Thursday night I drove home.

              Friday 

Friday I am working on my newsletter, catching up on emails, returning calls to constituents, running errands, and hopefully getting some golf in!! 

Where will I be this Weekend:

Saturday 2/29/25 I will be attending my nieces state volleyball championship & celebrating my mom’s birthday here in Des Moines - It is just a quick trip home this Thursday - Friday.  Happy early Birthday to my amazing Mother! 

Looking Ahead:

Next week we are getting back into committee meetings with limited debate time.  Next weekend:  I will be at the Onawa Iowa Library on 4/5/25 for the Auxiliary Forum 

Week 11 Legislative Update:

Enhancing Election Security

•     Iowa House Republicans have remained diligent in ensuring Iowa’s elections remain safe and secure. 
•     It is essential that Iowans can continue to trust the results of our elections. This has been the case, in part, because Iowa House Republicans are always looking for ways to improve our election system and pass swift action to prevent any bad actions we see taking place in other states from happening here in Iowa. 
•     One area we have known needs improvement in our election system is the way we conduct recounts. This week, we passed House File 928 to establish a uniform, fair, and common-sense system for conducting recounts in Iowa elections. Here’s what it entails:

o  Currently there is no limit to when a candidate can request a recount even though recounts have shown to yield minimal vote changes. Frivolous requests are a waste of time and resources. This bill sets a threshold for requesting a recount.  

Recounts for statewide or federal elections are only allowed if the apparent margin of victory is .15%. 

Recounts for general assembly or local races are only allowed if the apparent margin of victory is the fewer between 1% or 50votes. 

o  The recount board is changed to consist of the county auditor, the auditor’s staff, and if necessary, people employed to count the ballots for the election with equal party representation.     

• The current process allows the campaigns to appoint one person to the recount board each. This essentially puts the campaigns in charge of counting their own votes, opening the system up to bias.  The County Auditor is elected and trusted to run the elections, they should be trusted to run the recount as well.

Campaigns may designate up to five observers to personally verify that the recount process is conducted fairly.

•     The second bill we passed this week regarding election security was House File 954.

o  In the 2024 election cycle, Iowa’s Secretary of State was stonewalled by the Biden Administration in his attempts to verify that Iowans registered to vote in the upcoming election were citizens of the United States and were eligible to vote. 

Recently, the SOS announced that he had found277 noncitizens on Iowa’s voter rolls. Of those, 40 attempted to cast ballots in the 2024 election and 35 successfully had their vote counted, despite being an ineligible voter. 

o  This bill aims to ensure that every voter in Iowa’s elections are US citizens. It does this by outlining efforts to clean the current voter rolls and verify the citizenship status of voters in advance of Election Day. 

Anyone registering to vote will be notified in advance that there is an issue, giving any US Citizens time to correct an error.

o  Additionally, this bill raises the threshold to become a political party to 3 consecutive statewide elections receiving 2% of the vote and bans ranked choice voting. 

Protecting Landowners from Eminent Domain Abuse

•     For many in our caucus, there is nothing we have heard louder or clearer than the call from landowners to protect their private property rights from eminent domain abuse by CO2 pipeline projects. 
•     This week we passed two bills containing many policies to provide those protections. This is not about opposing the pipelines, but about opposing the use of eminent domain to construct the pipelines. Pipeline companies should not be able to use the heavy hand of government to abuse landowner rights for private gain.  
•     House File 943 truly gets at the crux of the issue. This bill prohibits the taking of agricultural land for a pipeline transporting liquified carbon dioxide. 
•     House File 639 contains a number of policies aimed at protecting landowners, including:

o  Requires hazardous liquid pipelines to have insurance to cover potential damage, including injury and property value reduction. 

o  States that if individuals face increased insurance, or are unable to get insurance, due to the pipeline, the pipeline owner must provide insurance or reimburse the individual for additional costs. 

o  Provides stronger safeguards to ensure that only legitimate public uses are recognized to request eminent domain. 

o  Mandates that all members of the Iowa Utilities Commission must be present during hearings related to public utility regulation, electric transmission lines, and pipelines. 

o  Allows Iowans who are impacted IUC action to intervene in actions. Many Iowans have been prohibited from speaking even though they will be impacted by IUC actions.

Senate File 22: Distracted Driving

•     This week, we passed SF 22 to make our roads safer for all Iowans. 
•     We all know the dangerous distraction our phones can be. We have all seen drivers driving down the road distracted by their cellphones, endangering themselves and others. 
•     Currently, Iowa law prohibits texting and driving. But there are many other reasons drivers may be using their phone. In addition to being completely unsafe, this makes the texting and driving law almost entirely unenforceable for Iowa law enforcement. 
•     SF 22 changes Iowa’s texting while driving ban into a ban on using electronic devices while driving. Drivers can use their device hands-free. 
•     There are a number of common sense and necessary exemptions to the ban. For example, drivers can use their phones for the purpose of receiving safety-related information or reporting an emergency situation and public safety or health care professionals are exempt while performing official duties requiring their device. 
•     If a driver violates this law, they are guilty of a simple misdemeanor, must pay a $100 fine, and it would be considered a moving violation. 
•     Law enforcement officers are to issue warnings to anyone in violation of this law  from July 1 until January 1st, 2026.  Beginning on January 1,2026. Law enforcement will be issuing tickets.

Expanding Access to Quality, Affordable Health Care

•     This session, we have been focused on a number of policies to ensure that Iowans all across the state have access to the quality health care they deserve. 
•     There’s no silver bullet solution to expanding health care access, so our Health and Human Services Committee has put many ideas on the table for consideration, including several proposals from the Governor, who shares our mission. 
•     We have already passed one bill aiming to recruit, train and retain more health care professionals in Iowa. 
•     This week we passed a number of other health care bills worth highlighting. 
•     House File 972 was a bill proposed by Governor Reynolds focused on expanding health care access in rural Iowa. It does this by:

o  Requiring DHHS to request federal approval for a health care hub-and-spoke partnership funding model to establish regional collaboration between health care providers and improve health care delivery in rural areas. 

o  Consolidates all five health care loan repayment programs into one program that will award loan forgiveness or bonuses based on high-need health care professions in shortage areas and doubles the funding it puts into these programs.

o  Requests$150 million in federal dollars to create 115 new medical residency spots in Iowa each year for the next four years. 

o  Repeals existing residency and fellowship programs, with transition provisions, and converts those programs to the Medicaid graduate medical education efforts to expand health care for underserved communities. 

o  Streamlines the process for certificate of need decisions. 

o  All in all, this bill will streamline services and increase funding to address health care shortages in rural Iowa. 

•     House File 887 removes the requirement that birth centers must obtain a certificate of need prior to opening or expanding their services. 

o  With birthing centers closing in rural Iowa hospitals, this bill removes regulatory obstacles, enhancing support and access to care for mothers and their newborns.

•     House File 919 establishes a children’s specialty hospital designation for ChildServe. This change allows them to be federally certified and participate in federal reimbursement programs. 

o   This bill will help ChildServe’s sustainability and growth, allowing them to provide care to more Iowa kids with special healthcare needs. 

House File 970: Refocusing SNAP Benefits on Nutritious Foods

•     This week we passed HF 970, a bill that changes what foods are eligible to be bought with SNAP dollars, funded by the Iowa taxpayers. In order to achieve this, the Department of Health and Human Services must apply for a waiver from the federal government. 
•     SNAP stands for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program. However, right now taxpayer dollars are being spent on items that are far from nutritious and don’t do anything to alleviate hunger. 

o  According to a 2016 USDA study of foods purchased with SNAP funds, 20 cents of every dollar was spent on sweetened beverages, desserts, salty snacks, candy and sugar.

o  In the same report, sweetened beverages made up the2nd most purchased category and prepared desserts was the 5th most purchased category.

•       Iowa currently ranks 11th in the nation for adult obesity, a condition linked to high blood pressure, diabetes, heart disease, and several types of cancers. Under the current system, taxpayers are funding Iowans’ bad eating habits and, in many cases, the resulting health care issues through Medicaid. 
•       This bill incentivizes better eating habits. It doesn’t ban anyone from purchasing pop, candy or chips with their own money, but it does limit their ability to purchase those items with taxpayer dollars. 
•       These changes would put some reasonable guardrails on what SNAP dollars can be spent on. House Republicans do not believe tax dollars should be purchasing things like skittles and monster energy drinks within a program that is supposed to help alleviate hunger.
•     This bill also allocates $1 million to the Double Up Food Bucks program once the SNAP waiver is approved at the federal level. 

Senate File 615: Work Requirements for Medicaid Expansion

•     Iowa House Republicans believe that able-bodied Iowans on Medicaid who are able to work should do so.  
•     Medicaid is an important program that was created to provide health insurance for the most vulnerable populations. In order for this program to remain available for the Iowans who really need it, there must be some reasonable guard rails in place. 
•     Unfortunately, without work requirements as a condition of Medicaid benefits, there are more than 100,000 able-bodied Iowans receiving benefits who are either not working or working limited hours. 
•     SF615 requires the Iowa Department of Health and Human Services to request federal approval to include work requirements as a condition of Medicaid expansion. There are a couple of important things to note:

o  This bill allows DHHS the flexibility to determine what qualifies as work to include education, job skills training, or caregiving services. 

o  It also contains many exemptions to ensure those who can’t seek work for legitimate reasons don’t lose their benefits. This includes:

Those under 19 years old and those over 64 years old 

Disabled individuals as determined by Social Security 

Medically frail or medically exempt individuals 

Caretakers of dependent children under 6 years old 

High risk pregnant women 

Those receiving unemployment 

Participants in substance abuse treatment 

A good cause as determined by the director of DHHS ensuring there is room for additional common sense exemptions

•     Iowa House Republicans do not believe in trapping Iowans on government assistance.  We prefer to help individuals transition off of government and into self-sufficiency whenever possible. Work requirements can be a crucial piece in that effort. 
•     This bill allows low-income Iowans to take control of their future, help them build a sense of self-worth and purpose, and open the door to additional opportunities to climb the economic ladder. 

Verse of the Week:  1 Thessalonians 5:16-18

Rejoice always, pray continually, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is God’s will for you in Jesus Christ.

This week I met with students (mostly seniors and juniors) that are in a government class at Cherokee Public Schools! Rep. Bossman and I explained our day to day work at the capitol to them. Spring is definitely in the air here at the capitol!